PADRES STUMBLE OUT OF ’13; HEALTH IS TOP NEED

Moments after the Padres ended the season with a rare Huston Street blown save in a 7-6 loss to the Giants at AT&T Park, the Padres’ manager looked to the future.

“Overall, there are some positive signs moving forward,” Black said after the Padres equaled their 76-86 won-loss record of a year ago and finished in a third-place tie with San Francisco in the National League West.

“The pitching came around,” continued Black. “We played hard all year.

“When you look at all the adversity we overcame on the injury front and the suspensions ... I’m very proud of the group that’s been here all year.”

In the season finale, two of the Padres’ “positives” conspired to give them a 6-3 lead entering the seventh.

Rookie second baseman Jedd Gyorko hit the first grand slam of his career in the fifth. And right-handed starter Tyson Ross allowed three runs on seven hits over six innings. But the bullpen gave up four runs in the final two-plus innings as the Padres lost for only the third time this season in the 66 games they led after eight innings.

When asked earlier what might be the Padres’ key acquisition this offseason, Black didn’t hesitate.

“Health would be the biggest acquisition,” he responded.

But given what just happened for a second straight season, it might be easier to find a 25-homer slugger on the free agent market for under $10 million than expect the Padres to remain healthy for an entire season.

Not once in 2013 was Black ever to employ the lineup he penciled in at the end of the 2012 season.

In addition to having three position players (Carlos Quentin, Cameron Maybin and Yasmani Grandal) have their seasons end early due to surgery, the Padres have three starting pitching candidates (Cory Luebke, Joe Wieland and Casey Kelly) rehabbing from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.

Several other position players, notably Kyle Blanks and Logan Forsythe, face uncertain futures due to recurring injuries.

What would a healthy Padres team have done in 2013? We’ll never know.

But they had climbed into contention in late May and early June before four starters — Yonder Alonso (June 1, broken hand), Gyorko (June 10, groin strain), Maybin (June 11, PCL strain in right knee) and Everth Cabrera (June 18, hamstring) — went on the disabled list in a span of 18 days.

The team that finished the season Sunday had only four regulars — Chris Denorfia, Chase Headley, Nick Hundley and Gyorko — in the lineup. And Denorfia is best while platooning against left-handed pitchers while Hundley was expected to play behind Grandal this season.

Injuries, of course, weren’t the only thing that crushed the Padres this season. It didn’t help that Grandal opened the season and Cabrera ended it serving 50-game suspensions stemming from the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Or that Headley fell far short of repeating his breakout season of 2012. Or that Quentin was again available for half a season due to a right knee that was earlier this month surgically repaired for the third time in 18 months.